


nightingale, teach me to fly

by Kuroeia (Empatheia)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-04
Updated: 2009-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29299497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Empatheia/pseuds/Kuroeia
Summary: He has a burning question, and there's one person who might be kind enough to answer it.
Relationships: Tara Maclay & Spike
Kudos: 1





	nightingale, teach me to fly

**Author's Note:**

> Old fic cross-posted from FFN. 
> 
> Requested by prpl_pen on Livejournal, drabble post 2009/09/28.
> 
> Prompt: veil

He almost doesn't send the letter.

The red mailbox waits patiently, jaws agape, as he struggles with himself. Finally, with a spasmic gesture something like a blow, he shoves the stamped envelope in and turns to walk away briskly. His hands fidget in his pockets.

His name is Spike, he is a vampire, and he is in love. Being a vampire and rather old, he has little memory of what it feels like and what it means to the living, but he needs to know before he stumbles into something in the dark and breaks his foolish heart. Or hers.

Hence the letter, which is addressed to a not-quite-ordinary living girl named Tara. Of all the humans he knows, she is the most likely to answer without mocking him, with real honesty, and she is the only one he would trust with a secret. The others loathe him with varying degrees of intensity and... just because he's dead doesn't mean he's forgotten feelings altogether, just some of their names, and humiliation has never been far from his heels.

She is also the one who loves the most truly. That's important, too.

This thin veil of caution and secrecy is all that protects him.

A week later, a reply comes, written in delicate but sure script.

 _Dear Spike,_ it says (and trust Tara to preface it with 'dear' even though he's done nothing to deserve it):

_Try not to hurt her in ways she doesn't like._

_Sincerely,_

_Tara_

And that's all there is to it. He reads it over again, and again, and finally thinks he gets the idea. He also understands something about Tara, something worth knowing: she has, as he did once a long time ago, looked midnight in the face without blinking and kept what she saw in her heart. That makes her even more interesting, in his book.

He tucks the letter into his pocket and walks smiling into the night.

X

**Author's Note:**

> Work is intentionally this length, complete, and will not be updated.


End file.
